The Sternhild Murders
by WS.Blue
Summary: A serial killer visits the Sternhild City.
1. Chapter 1 to 11

**AU  
Keith/Cis  
Genre: Tragedy/Crime/Romance/Mystery**

Completed on: 16 Feb 2013

**Chapter 1: February 15, Morning, Park**

Taking a morning stroll in the park with John was the morning routine Keith Goodman adopted since he moved to Sternhild City. Keith enjoyed the park, perhaps more so than meeting the other heroes who were the only ones he could comfortably call as his friends. While he knew most of the park regulars by names, and they with his, they were in the end still strangers. Strangers they might be, Keith enjoyed their company, they always appeared so happy and carefree, oblivious to the crimes he had to face every time as Sky High. Keith was a hero, but he knew that even a superhuman like him couldn't prevent all the crimes in the world from happening.

"Come on, John. Time to go," Keith said after taking one last look at the scene. Turning around, he gently pushed his way through the crowd as he tugged lightly at the leash to coax the dog into moving. Keith moved away from the people that gathered around the perimeter the police set up, in the centre of the enclosed area was a girl sitting perfectly still on a park bench. She was young and beautiful, and dressed like she was going to meet someone. Her eyes were closed, and she carried a sweet smile with her lips dyed dark in dried blood. She was dead, but she looked so peaceful and beautiful, as if freed from all worries of the world.

He heard people mumbling about the serial killer, and thought that the world would probably be a happier place if there were no Next like him to begin with.

**Chapter 2: February 15, Noon, Café**

Keith thought that he would have skip lunch, just this once, but he found himself back in the sandwich café where he normally have his lunch, also where _she_ worked. There was a television hanging by the wall at the corner of this usually quiet room, the television set was normally muted, but today, it was tuned to the full volume. A few of the staff and regulars cried and grieved as the news reported of _her_ death, a part of the café had just died this morning.

Sitting on his usual seat at the other corner of the café, Keith didn't look up at the television, but instead leant lamely on the wall, his blank stare on the full cup of coffee. He thought he should cry, but no tears came out. He opened up his palm, and looked at it, imagining the blood still on his hand.

**Chapter 3: January 18, Noon, Café**

Keith stood before the menu hanging over the corner, acting as if he was checking out the choices the café had, but truthfully, he always ordered the same thing, the daily brunch special that changed according to the day of the week. The real reason behind his dilemma was that there was a new face behind the corner, a sweet looking girl with curvy hair. She had a name tag on, but he couldn't be able to read it properly at where he was standing, he would have to stand closer. Picking up his courage, he took a few steps and joined the short queue.

"Welcome, what would you like to have," she asked

"Cis," he read out her name instead.

**Chapter 4: January 24, Night, "Live at the scene"**

"Here we are, 'live' at the scene of the crime. Just moments ago, the alarm sounded over at the tower. We have little details at the moment, but we know there is an intruder at the top floor of the tower."

"We can now see Fire Emblem, racing through west street, and Sky High flying in along the east street. What's this? Yes, Rock Bison has been sighted, he's prepping to use his launcher to launch himself straight into the tower, a smart move, he wouldn't be able to match their speed otherwise. Blue Rose is coming in behind Rock Bison, she won't be-"

"Woah, an explosion! We just have an explosion over at the top floor of the building, what's going on? Someone is flying out!"

"Fire Emblem has just changed direction to give chase, Sky High is still at the other side of the tower, and Rock Bison is- Ha! The neighbouring towers are blocking his view. Same goes for Blue Rose. Fire Emblem is the only one left, he... we just lost sight of the intruder. I repeat, we just lost the intruder."

**Chapter 5: January 31, Morning, Park**

Every morning, Keith Goodman detoured from his usual route to a nearby apartment block, waiting at the ground level for a certain girl to come down. Together, the two would walk towards the park, then to her café where she worked. Taking a morning stroll in the park with her was the morning routine Keith adopted since she moved to Sternhild City. Keith enjoyed the park, perhaps more so than meeting his friends, the other heroes of the Sternhild City. He knew most of the park regulars by names, and they with his, Keith enjoyed their company, they are always so happy and carefree.

Should they still have some spare time before her shift start, the pair would settle on a park bench and just enjoy the peaceful moment.

"I like this city, the people here are lively and friendly," Cis said suddenly, before reaching down to comb John's shaggy fur with one hand.

"Do you like its heroes?" Keith asked in return, eager to learn more about the girl. Cis was a girl who talked little, much less about herself, but when she did, she would always speak clearly and straight to the point.

"I don't like the crimes, I don't like the heroes," Cis said.

**Chapter 6: February 6, Night, Private housing**

Down at the suburb extension of the Sternhild City, in a luxurious three-storey residential housing, Sky High was the first to arrive upon the alarm of a crime. Bursting into the house through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the ground level, he saw a middle-age woman laying unconscious on the sofa, before her were two wine glasses, and the television showing _Hero TV_ reporting a crime in the very same house he was in.

After performing a quick check on her pulse, Sky High hastily moved on to the kitchen just as Wild Tiger and Barnaby entered the building behind him.

"I'm going to check the back of the house," Sky High yelled back at the pair without looking back. Hearing something, he hastened his steps, using his jetpack to skip a few steps at a time. Turning around the corner, he saw who he assumed to be the owner of the house, a man of similar age to the woman out at the living room, collapsed onto his own pool of blood. From the look of it, he looked like he died the same way the man in the office tower did, rupturing of internal organs. He had no time to do any further investigation as he then noticed a slim figure in dark costume escaping out through the back exit.

With the low ceiling in the kitchen, he couldn't fully utilise his power and jetpack to catch up to the killer, unlike him, the killer was already out in the backyard.

"Sky High!" he shouted, throwing a small gust of wind at the killer just as he flew into the air.

A yelp of pain was heard as the gust hit the leg, but he was gone by the time Sky High reached the backyard.

**Chapter 7: February 7, Morning, Park**

The sky was dark, it looked like it might rain, even so, Keith found himself at the park, and for the first time skipping Cis' house. Walking in slow pace towards _their_ usual bench, he looked up and saw to surprise to find her already seated. No longer dressed in usual red dress, but instead a long jeans that would cover her legs, and an umbrella by her side.

Keith didn't doubt what he heard last night, though it was a short cry of pain and a brief look at the dark silhouette, he knew who was there at the kitchen, but he couldn't understand why she was here now, waiting for him. Nevertheless, he joined her by her side.

They remained where they were, neither saying anything nor moved at all, until it started to drizzle. She opened up her umbrella to shelter them, but Keith moved away and stood up instead. The drizzle turned into a downpour as Keith walked away.

Neither of them visited the café that day.

**Chapter 8: February 12, Night, Crime scene**

Flying in the sky, Sky High hoped not find any crime.

Since the second murder, the killer had been called the Black Wind by the media, because of her choice of costume which were black all over, and her power. Her power was similar to his, the ability to manipulate wind, though he suspected that hers was more powerful, seeing that she could fly without the aid of a jetpack. It had been speculated that Black Wind was able to force the air in the lungs to move so violently that it ruptured the internal organs.

Flying in the sky, Sky High hoped to be the first to find her.

A beep, then a familiar voice through the speakers in his helmet: "Heroes, trouble at warehouse 3982 to the west, sightings suggesting Black Wind, sending you the coordinates now."

Turning abruptly, Sky High flew at his greatest speed towards the industrial district, his greatest threat as usual would be Fire Emblem and his race car. By luck, Fire Emblem was at the wrong end of the city, that would mean he would have only six other heroes to deal with.

Arriving above the warehouse, he plunged straight down through the roof, skipping all together his usual introduction. The blunt landing forced him onto his knees, ignoring the pain, he looked up, he quickly surveyed the surrounding. Bodies were piled up against one side of the warehouse walls, as if a large gale just threw them against the wall. In the centre of the room was a man faced down on his own blood, guns still in his hands, and beside him was a girl in what appeared to be some crudely assembled costume – black ski-mask, top, jeans and boots.

Sky High was at a lost on words, afraid of what he would learn.

"Keith," the girl said coldly with no hint of remorse. "Good night."

Before he knew it, he was blown against the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Falling unconscious, he spied through his failing vision of a girl flying away in a twister of wind.

**Chapter 9: February 13, Morning, Park**

By the time Keith woke up, it was already morning. He had been retained in the private hero clinic just to be safe, and was judged fit to leave, though he couldn't care less what they told him, he would have left no matter what. The first place he went after that was the park, where he expected to find her.

"Cis. I know what you are doing, the first two... victims, were bad people. And the third, from the looks of it, mafia?"

"They dealt with weapons and drugs," Cis said without missing a beat, turning to look at him.

"You should have left them for the police, you don't have to handle them yourself."

"What can the polices do? What can the heroes do? The first man lied and stole from the poor, he was brought to court and released as innocent. The second man, a corrupted politician, protected the first man, and worked with the third man, who had his own private army. Had anyone done anything about them?"

"You have to stop doing this, Cis! You can't just go killing people, you aren't above the law."

"Law is useless when law is the one defending them. Then what? Leave the city to the heroes who are doing nothing but publicity stunts for consumer products all day long?"

"Are you going to kill everyone who you think deserved to die?"

"Not everyone, just two more left. I won't stop until they are dead. Tomorrow, I will kill again, don't be there, I will hurt you."

**Chapter 10: February 14, Night, Keith's place**

Keith didn't go out that night, it was something he knew he would regret one day. He didn't turn on the television, and even smashed his mobile phone against the wall and pulled out the telephone lines. For one night, he was as good as uncontactable.

Burying his head under the pillow, hoping to drown away the ticking noise of the clock, telling him that time was wasting. He was a hero, and he was supposed to save life. What good would hiding his head under the pillow do, in the end, was he no different than what Cis said? Regardless of whether he agreed with what Cis said, he was not helping the situation by ignoring the truth. He had to know what was happening now, had a crime happened, was it a murder, was it over, what happened?

Scrambling off the bed, he franticly rushed to find the television remote and turned it on, the _Hero TV_ programme was not running at the moment. He switched his attention to the telephone, finding and plugging the wire back in. Before he could even call Agnes Joubert, the machine automatically notified him of his ten unheard messages.

The first was from Agnes, he pressed 'Play'.

"_Sky High, where are you? There's a crime, I'm sending you the coordinates, **go** there."_

He pressed 'Next'.

"_Sky High, it's Black Wind, go there **now**."_

Looking at the timelog, he realised that the messages were left almost an hour ago. He skipped the remaining messages from Anges or the studio, until he came upon a message from a number he recognised to be from Cis.

"_Keith... meet me at the park... please..."_

**Chapter 11: February 14, Night, Park**

The night was cold, but Keith still sweated as he ran through the blocks to the park, wearing only his singlet, track pants and running shoes, all of which he rashly put on before getting out his place.

"Ciz! What's wrong?" he shouted her name the moment he saw her, sitting still and slanted slightly to one side.

Kneeling before her, Keith held onto both of her hands, and found them to be frighteningly cold.

"Keith! You've frightened me! I was just resting," she exclaimed and eyes shot wide open in mock surprise. "Sit beside me, let me rest on you."

Whatever Cis had in mind, Keither played along, she wanted to lighten up the mood, and wanted him to believe the situation wasn't as bad as he would think, but Keith could see for himself how pale the girl was. Keith obligated to her request, and moved to the bench, never once did he let go of her hands.

"Tell me who hurt you."

"No one did."

"Cis, please tell me."

"And what would you do? Hurt him back? Or kill your friend because he was doing his job?"

Keith couldn't answer her, partly wishing that she didn't imply that she got into a fight with the heroes, that she went to kill her fourth victim.

"Come on, now, don't be like that, smile for me. I like your smile, it's so innocent and naïve, the good kind of naïve."

Her voice was so weak now. For her sake, he smiled, but his feeble attempt under such circumstance only made her laughed, causing her to cough out blood.

"Cis! Let me take you to the hospital," he said as he bowed down to carry her up.

"No," she said as she resisted him. "I don't want to go there, let me rest here."

"You are going to die if we don't do something about it."

"You're right, that's why I called you. I want to see you."

Once Keith was back sitting beside her, she slowly let her body slumped against his larger body.

"It's karma."

"What?"

"I wasn't lying, no one caused my injury. After I... killed that man, I accidentally hurt myself. I could feel something in me broke, I surprised myself that I even managed to even escape from your friends."

"Cis..."

"Remember that I told you that I had two more to kill? I'm the fifth, I deserve to die."

"No, you won't."

"I will, and I want you to continue living as a hero. The whole structure of the hero system is just plain wrong, but there is nothing wrong with you and your friends saving lives."

"I want to save you," Keith said, turning sideways to hold Cis in an embrace.

"In a way, you did. Keith, can you stay here with me until I die? I'm sorry that I've asked you to come here to see me die, but I... just want to see you."

"You are not going to die."

Ignoring him, she continued, "After I'm dead, I want you to leave me here alone."

"What?"

"I want people to see me as Black Wind's fifth victim."

"Why?"

"I want Black Wind to live on, I want people to think Black Wind is still somewhere out there, and still kills bad people."

"You're not a bad person."

"Will you do that for me?" Cis said with her eyes closed, and her voice now in a whisper.

Keith said nothing, but words were no longer needed between them. Feeling his arms being put around her, Cis realised that she could rest. Closing her eyes, she found her peace in his hold.

**END**

**Read on if you want the optional alternative extended ending.**


	2. Chapter 12 Extended Ending

**Chapter 12: February ****18****, Night, ****Manor**

There was a man laying on his own pool of blood, who was bad when he was alive. He was the fifth person Cis would have kill him herself had her injuries not overcame her, he was on Cis' notebook that Keith found.

**END**

**Actually, this is the original ending, but right before I published it, I wondered if the story ending at chapter 11 would be better. ****Leave a review, tell me what do you think about the story and its endings.**

**Original idea is inspirited by GOTH, a Japanese movie, which is based on a novel of the same name.**


End file.
